Artist&#39;s palette



July 31, 1956 B. w. NELSON 2,756,530

ARTISTS PALETTE Filed April 29, 1955 I I l' Pb A! l2" 4A 51% 45. 5'0

:NVEMTOR 56 W BERNARD W. NELSON ww w fi% ATTORNEY United States Patent O ARTISTS PALETTE Bernard W. Nelson, Holden, Mass.

Application April 29, 1955, Serial No. 504,740

Claims. 01. 41-5 This invention relates to a new and improved palette particularly adapted for artists, and the principal object of the present invention resides in the provision of a palette providing for a plurality of wells or depressions to which paint is applied for use and in which the paint may be mixed where mixing is required, in combination with means in the bottom of each well for the detachable application thereto of a tube or container for the paint or other similar material supplying the palette, and including means for suspending such paint tubes or containers by the necks thereof, so that they extend into the well, and paint, or other material such as turpentine, oil, etc., is easily applied to the well merely by squeezing the ends of the tubes.

Further objects of the invention include a palette of the class described providing for a readily available supply of paints so that the different paint containers do not have to be put away in a time-consuming operation as is customarily needed; and the palette stands ready set at all times to provide the artist with his paints or other materials at any time it is desired to use them; the provision of a relatively simple and inexpensive artists palette comprising means having a series of paint-container closures thereon for closing the paint tubes suspended from the palette by the necks thereof for quick and easy closing and opening of the paint supply means; the provision of an artists palette as above described wherein the paint sup- 1 ply closing means comprises an elongated resilient rod or flat strip having spaced thereon a series of stoppers preferably made of rubber or some similar soft material, said stoppers each being aligned with an aperture in the bottom of a paint well and including means for quick and easy application of the flat strap in the correct position on the pallette, said means including resilient snap means for quick application and removal thereof with respect to the palette.

Still further objects of the invention include an artists palette as above described including folding legs for supporting the same on a surface with the paint supplying tubes or the like in suspended condition with respect to the palette, said legs extending below the tubes and mounting the same above and free of a supporting surface for the palette.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a top plan View of a palette according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation, looking in the direction of arrow 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in end elevation thereof, looking in the direction of arrow 3 in Fig. 2;

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are enlarged sections taken respectively on the corresponding lines in Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged section on line 7-7 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing the legs folded; and

Patented July 31, 1956 Fig. 9 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 4 but showing a modified holding means for a paint supply container.

in carrying out the present invention, there is preferably provided a palette member generally indicated at 10 which may be of any size or shape desired or convenient and which may be provided with depending flanges or rims 12 at the sides and 14 at the ends.

The palette member 10 is provided with a series of depressions which are generally indicated at 16, these depressions forming paint-receiving or mixing wells and each having a lower or bottom surface 18 formingthe bottom of the well which, however, is apertured for a purpose to be described.

In one form of the invention as most clearly shown in Fig. 4, the aperture in the bottom of the well at 18 is indicated at 20 and in this aperture is provided a collar of annular form indicated at 22. This collar is provided with an external annular groove which receives the circumferential edge of the aperture 20 and is thus firmly held in position in the bottom of the well 16 as clearly shown in Fig. 4. These collars are preferably soft and rubbery.

The collars 22 frictionally receive the necks 24 of a series of paint tubes 26 and hold the same in manually adjusted position therein to provide for access of the paints from the tubes into the wells 16 when the tubes 26 are lightly squeezed in the usual manner at their ends. The usual paint tube is threaded at the neck and this provides for frictional holding thereof by means of the rubbery collars 22. It is to be understood that other suitable materials may well be used to provide the collars.

By this means, a series of tubes or like containers of point, oil, turpentine, etc. are dependently supported with their necks in position to provide for paints thereof to be positioned in the respective wells without any interference between the different materials in the different wells and without any danger of spilling or mixing the same. When the artist wishes to paint, it is only necessary to apply suflicient pressure to whatever tube contains the material he desires to use and the artist is then ready to paint at any time at a moments notice without looking through the paintbox to select the color or material wanted and without the necessity of applying the same upon the usual surface of a palette. In this way the artist is enabled to start work at a moments notice and he may also work for a few minutes at any time without the necessity of a relatively laborious arranging of his materials and also without the usual laborious replacing of the materials and cleaning of the palette.

The wells are provided with closure means to close the respective necks of the tubes 26, etc., without threading the usual caps back on. This closure means preferably comprises an elongated flat strip or bridge of resilient material such as indicated at 28. There is one strip of such material for each row of wells and each strip has a hook or the like 30 at one end thereof which is adapted to hook down under the edge of the rim of the palette at 14.

The other end of each strip is provided with a snap type of indented holding device indicated at 32 in Fig. 2 and as illustrated in dotted lines in that figure, this strip may be quickly and easily snapped down over the respective row of wells and just as easily and quickly removed by inserting the thumb under the tab 34 and lifting and raising the same to the dotted line position whereupon the strip 28 is easily separated from the palette.

At spaced intervals, the strips 28 are provided with depending closure stoppers generally indicated at 36 and these are secured to the respective strips 28 as for instance by means of annular grooves 38 in heads 40 which serve to secure the respective stoppers to apertures in the strips 28 as clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 9.

The stoppers 36 are tapered in a downward direction and are positioned to fit in and close the open ends of the necks 24 of the respective tubes 26, so that the paints, oil and other materials are quickly and easily closed to the atmosphere, so that the palette may be portable and so that the materials thereof will not spill or dry out.

If desired, the necks 24 of the respective tubes may be threaded into holes prepared therefor at 42 as shown in Fig. 9 and the collars 22 may be omitted, but the collars 22 lend themselves to variations in size in the necks 24 and the central apertures through these collars may of course be made of different sizes in order to accommodate a wider range of sizes.

If desired, collapsible legs may be utilized in order to mount the palette in the nature of a small table with the tubes 26 permanently supported therefrom above a supporting surface, see particularly Fig. 2. There are two legs each of which is made in U-shaped form. Each leg is provided with a closed portion for the U as indicated at 44 and the legs 46 thereof may be provided with outturned feet 48 which may snap into collars or brackets 50 made for the purpose so as to form an adjustable connection between the legs 46 and the palette itself. A cross bracket 54 may be connected to the closed ends 44 of the two leg structures by means of open hooks 56 which together may be made detachable from the legs 46, see Fig. 7, for complete folding of the entire device.

When the strip 54 is removed, the legs may be folded upwardly in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 7 to underlie the top surface of the palette as shown in Fig. 8 and the palette may be shipped in this form for easy erection by the user.

It will be seen that this invention provides an extremely convenient material holding palette which is useful at a moments notice and which is extremely easy to prepare for storage or periods of non-use, and that the artist is thereby provided with means for painting for even a short period of time without the necessity of unpacking his material and wasting many minutes preparatory to actually doing any work. The paints and other materials are ready for use at a moments notice and yet closing means is provided for ensuring against wastage and drying of the materials involved. The various parts of the device are relatively simple and inexpensively manufactured, so that the new artists palette may be made for easy availability in addition to increased convenience provided in the work done by the artist.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, 1 do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. Palette comprising a substantially plane member, means forming a series of wide-mouth, pigment-receiving and retaining well-like depressions therein, means at the bottom of each depression for securement of a container thereto in depending relation therefrom whereby material in each container may be deposited in the respective well, each container having an opening directed generally upwardly into its well, and a closure device removably mounted on the member, a closure stopper for each well adapted to engage and close the respective container opening, said stopper being secured to the closure device in mutually spaced relation thereon, and means to detachably connect the ciosure device to the member in overly lation to the series of depression 2. The palette of claim 1 wherein the stoppers are conical and taper downwardly and are of soft material to fit the openings of the containers.

3. The palette of claim 1 wherein the stoppers are conical and taper downwardly and are of soft material to fit the openings of the containers, said closure device holding the stopper ends firmly thereto.

4. Palette comprising a member, well-like depressions in said member, each depression including a bottom element having a hole'therein, a grommet for each hole to secure an open container to the bottom element of the respective depression, said grommets being adapted to hold a container thereby in depending relation to point upwardly with relation to the well-like depressions, each grommet having an opening therein to admit contents of the container to the respective depression, and means temporarily holding the containers in closed condition to restrain the entrance of the container contents to said depressions.

5. Palette comprising a member, depressions in said member, each depression having a hole therein at the lower portion thereof, a grommet for each hole to secure an open container to the member, said grommets being adapted to hold a container thereby in depending relation to point upwardly with relation to the member, each grom met having an opening therein to admit contents of the container to the respective depression, and means temporarily holding the grommet opening in closed condition to restrain the entrance of the container contents to said depressions, said grommets being of relatively soft de- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Wiehl Oct. 22, 1901 Williams Aug. 11, 1903 

